While your home is meant to keep you and your guests safe, accidents — like slipping and falling — can still happen to anyone. Fortunately, standard homeowners insurance can cover the medical bills incurred by a visitor who is accidentally injured on your property.
Your policy pays for your guest’s medical expenses under medical payments insurance. This coverage acts as a financial shield for injuries suffered by a visitor on your property, regardless of who is at fault. Coverage limits for medical payments are usually set at $1,000 to $5,000. If you have $1,000 in coverage and your guest’s medical bill exceeds that amount, you may need to pay the remaining balance out of pocket.
Homeowners insurance covers slips and falls that happen on your property. The medical payments coverage in your policy may pay for your visitor’s medical or dental expenses, surgeries, X-rays, ambulance rides, physical therapy or even funeral services.
In this article:
When Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Slips & Falls?
The medical payments coverage in homeowners insurance covers slips and falls that happen to guests on your property. It covers their injuries sustained from the accident, regardless of whether or not you are at fault. Below are a few examples of when homeowners insurance medical payments coverage applies to slips and falls, up to policy limits.
- If your guest chips a tooth after slipping and falling on your property, medical payments coverage pays for the dental work.
- If your guest suffers a bodily injury after falling down your stairs, your homeowners policy covers the cost of the ambulance ride and the ER visit.
- If your guest needs an X-ray after slipping on your wet floor, the expense is reimbursable by medical payments coverage.
Your homeowners insurance also covers slips and falls that happen to any employee in your household. For example, if your housekeeper tripped over a tree stump in your backyard, your policy’s medical payments coverage can pay for the cost of their medical bills.
When Doesn’t Homeowners Insurance Cover Slips & Falls?
Whether your homeowners insurance covers slips and falls or not depends on the injured person. Keep in mind that the medical payments coverage in your policy only applies to visitors and household employees. That means you or any permanent member of your household do not have coverage if you slip and fall in your residence — health insurance pays your expenses. Additionally, your homeowners insurance policy won’t cover slips and falls if they happen on uninsured premises.
How to Prevent Slips & Falls
The best homeowners insurance can act as a financial safety net for accidents, such as slips and falls, that occur on your property. However, it’s better to prevent certain perils from happening in the first place. Taking some safety precautions like securing rugs and cleaning up spills can help in reducing the risk of slip-and-fall accidents.
Clean Up Spills
It’s best to immediately clean up spills of liquids or grease to prevent anyone from slipping on them and falling.
Secure Rugs
When rugs move around, they can cause your guests to accidentally slip and fall. You can prevent this by keeping your rugs in place with non-skid pads or double-sided carpet tape.
Turn On Your Lights
A well-illuminated home can improve your guests’ vision, avoiding slipping and falling on your property.
Reduce Clutter
Your visitors are more likely to trip when there’s clutter on your floor. Make sure to remove any items that may be overlooked and keep your cords and cables out of walkways.
Where to Buy Homeowners Insurance
You can get homeowners insurance from most major insurance companies, such as State Farm and Progressive. Likewise, smaller companies like Hippo offer financial protection for your residence.
When it comes to shopping for homeowners insurance, it’s best to compare quotes from different providers to get the best option for your needs. The average cost of a homeowners policy is around $175 monthly, but your rate may differ depending on the value of your personal property.
You can use MoneyGeek’s personal property calculator below to get an idea of how much you’ll need to pay for coverage.
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Total: $0About Mark Fitzpatrick
